


#CapLovesBucky

by mrs_d



Series: #SayIDo [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: #givecaptainamericaaboyfriend, (in which Sam is me), Established Relationship, Fluff, Inspired by Twitter, M/M, Metafiction, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Social Media, offensive language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 08:30:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6975541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_d/pseuds/mrs_d
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Excuse me,” Sam cut in. He couldn’t take another minute of this. “<i>Their</i> relationship? What about <i>our</i> relationship? Nobody’s speculating about that?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	#CapLovesBucky

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to the #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend trend on Twitter that totally erased Sam's existence earlier this week (before it got eclipsed by #SayNoToHYDRACap, which I am NOT talking about because RAEG). 
> 
> Unbeta'ed, written under influence of cold meds, so go easy on me if you find a grammar thing.
> 
> Also, note the offensive language tag: some phony tweets contain the same sort of terrible homphobic language that real tweets do.

It all started late last night.

It had been Bucky’s first combat mission since coming out of cryo in Wakanda three months ago, and he’d been a little shaky towards the end. He got through it, though, and Sam was sure that Steve was swelling with pride by the time the Special Forces team arrived to take over, but there was no doubt that the violence, not to mention the appearance of a hundred heavily armed men, had taken Bucky to some dark places. Over the comms, Sam could hear his breathing speed up, could hear the rising wave of panic and terror that only Steve could soothe.

“It’s okay, Buck, you’re all right,” Sam heard him murmur.

“I didn’t—” Bucky began, but Steve shushed him.

“You did good, Bucky. I’m so proud of you.”

What followed were more muffled words, and Sam glanced over to see Natasha looking as emotional as he felt, but only for a moment.

“Come on,” she said, and, if her voice was a little hoarse, Sam wasn’t telling a soul.

She cleared her throat and jerked her head towards the rendezvous point. Sam followed close behind her, and when they arrived, they found Steve and Bucky by the quinjet, talking to the head of the Special Forces unit. Or rather, Steve was talking to the head of the Special Forces unit. Bucky was standing stock still at his left, his eyes downcast, like he wished he were invisible. Sam and Nat exchanged another glance, and Natasha nodded. She went straight to Bucky and led him away while Sam stepped up to Steve’s right to help finish bringing the team up to speed.

On the flight back to base, Bucky perked up, a combination of removing his new prosthetic — which he said still looked too much like the old one to make him feel entirely comfortable — and of Natasha telling him jokes that, apparently, were a hell of a lot funnier in Russian.

Steve turned to Sam after the third one, and, slowly, his baffled grin turned into something softer, the sweet little smile that he only gave to Sam. Sam couldn’t help leaning in to kiss him for it. Steve’s lips were a little chapped from the cold wind outside, but his mouth was warm and familiar, like coming home after a long day.

Sam kissed him the way he’d wanted to for hours, the way he could, now that Steve wasn’t too distracted by the mission to feel guilty about it, and they were just starting to get a good rhythm going when Natasha made a loud noise of disgust and muttered something to Bucky, who laughed outright.

“God, don’t you have officers’ quarters for that kind of thing?” he said, shooing them away.

Steve went beet red, but he didn’t protest when Sam pulled him to his feet. They still had lots of time until the plane landed, and Sam planned to take advantage of every minute.

* * *

He did, and they were just barely over their afterglow when the plane touched down. Sam wanted nothing more than a hot shower and maybe some chili fries, but Maria Hill was waiting for them on the tarmac, her mouth pressed into a thin line that Sam knew meant trouble. Beside him, Steve had read the signs, too; those broad shoulders that Sam had spent three hours loosening immediately tightened.

“What is it?” Steve asked Maria with no preamble.

“Nothing serious,” she reassured him. “Nobody’s dead or injured. We just have a bit of a PR situation, and I thought it best to inform you right away before you went online and saw it for yourself.”

“A PR situation?” Bucky echoed faintly. “What are you talking about?”

Maria didn’t reply, but she turned away and led the four of them to a waiting SUV. Once they were safely inside, she handed Steve a tablet.

“Apparently, you were spotted,” she told him. “These photos were posted online about four hours ago. We intervened as soon as we could, but they spread like wildfire. We haven’t been able to scrub them completely.”

Sam glanced over Steve’s shoulder as he swiped through a series of photographs, blurry but unmistakeable, which captured the moment at the end of the mission when he had tugged Bucky close and hugged him to calm him down. Despite the situation, Sam was kind of impressed — somehow that photographer had managed to out-sneak both Natasha Romanov and James Barnes, which was no mean feat.   

“Okay,” Steve said in a voice that Sam recognized from tactical meetings. “Release a statement, tell the public what we were doing in the area, be as transparent as possible.”

“It’s already done,” Maria replied, taking back the tablet. “That’s not the issue.”

“Then what—?” Steve started to ask when she gave it back, but he fell silent right away, squinting at the screen.

“What is it?” Sam asked.

Steve shook his head wordlessly and handed over the tablet. The browser was open to Twitter, showing the latest trends. At the top of the list was #CapLovesBucky. Sam felt his eyebrows shoot up as he skimmed a handful of the tweets below.

 

**@JennSchmidt94**

life goal: find someone who will look at me the way cap looks at bucky #CapLovesBucky

 

**@Alistair_King_of_Hyrule**

#CapLovesBucky like a brother. not everything has to be gay get over yourselves. dont poison 2 patriots with claims of perverted love

 

**@Tyra_Lannister**

of course #CapLovesBucky didn’t anyone else think it was weird when he totally went ROGUE & ATTACHED THE GOVT for him??!! #youpeopleRblind

 

**@TheGreatSlimJim**

WHATEVER PIECE OF SHIT SJW WHO STARTED THE #CAPLOVESBUCKY HASHTAG SHOULD BE SHOT & PISSED ON THESE MEN ARE AMERICAN HEROES #CAPSNOTGAY

 

**@ace-up-mah-sleeve**

I have 1 word for ppl who refuse to accept that #CapLovesBucky bc of #PeggyCarter: BISEXUALITY #bivisibility #lgbtqia+ #theresaBinthere ok?

 

**@GingerSmurfette**

d’awwwwww look at these two #CapLovesBucky

 

Sam scrolled back to the top, only to find a notification that told him there had been 1200 new tweets since the page had been refreshed. He shook his head and handed the tablet to Natasha, who tilted it in Bucky’s direction.

Bucky’s face contorted when he read it. “Christ, you gotta be kidding me. This again?”

“I know,” Steve sighed. “Suppose it was only a matter of time.”

“What the fuck does it matter? I thought things were all liberal nowadays,” Bucky went on.

Sam laughed humorlessly. “You mean like how nobody’s racist anymore?”

Steve grimaced and tilted his head in acknowledgement.

“So, this kind of thing has happened before?” Natasha asked after a moment.

Steve nodded, and Bucky said, “Why do you think they made me into a kid in the comics?”

“Huh,” said Natasha. “Guess I never thought about it.”

“Then there were the movies,” Steve added. “All those close-ups of me looking at Peggy’s picture and sighing dramatically.”

“And the radio show after the war,” Maria put in. She adopted a phony voice. “The Captain America Adventure Program, co-starring Betty Carver, his girlfriend and beautiful triage nurse.”

Steve smiled a little sadly. “God, Peggy hated that show.”

“Basically, the brass did everything they could to make sure everybody knew we weren’t queer,” Bucky said bitterly. “Even though we both were. Are. Whatever.”

Steve nodded. “So what do we do?”

“Your call, Cap,” said Maria with a shrug. “Easiest course of action would probably be to wait it out. Whole thing’ll blow over in a day or two. But people aren’t gonna stop speculating about your and Barnes’ relationship—”

“Excuse me,” Sam cut in. He couldn’t take another minute of this. “ _Their_ relationship? What about _our_ relationship? Nobody’s speculating about that?”

Maria scrolled through the Twitter feed for almost a whole minute before answering. “Apparently not.”

“Hm,” Sam mused sarcastically. “Wonder what that’s all about.”

Steve reached over and grabbed Sam’s left hand, gave it a squeeze. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think keeping our relationship quiet would work so well.”

“It’s not your fault, you can’t control your fan base,” Sam said. He sighed, suddenly resigned. “Maybe we should just leave it alone, let it blow over.”

“Sam—”

“I mean, even if we made out on national TV,” Sam went on, figuring it out as he spoke, “people are probably always gonna want to see you with a white boy, whether it’s Bucky or somebody else.”

“Well, I don’t want a white boy,” said Steve firmly. He jerked his thumb at Bucky. “Especially not that white boy.”

“Hey,” Bucky protested, but Steve ignored him.

“I want _you_ , Sam,” Steve continued. He kissed Sam’s mouth gently. “Always. Okay?”

Sam couldn’t help returning his smile. “Okay.”

“Maria,” Steve said, not taking his eyes off Sam for a second, “can we hold a press conference or something?”

“Uh, sure,” Maria said slowly. “Right now?”

“No, not right now,” replied Steve. “Marriage license will take a few days. And I’d like to get you a really nice ring. What do you say, Sam?”

 _Yes_ , screamed Sam’s heart, but his head kept his mouth clamped shut. He looked down at the tablet in Maria’s hand, at Bucky, who appeared nervous on Steve’s behalf, and at Natasha, who seemed to be quietly amused by this whole thing, and Sam realized that shouting _Yes, Captain America, I would love to marry you!_ from the rooftops wasn’t exactly the best idea right now.

“No,” he said quietly.

Steve blanched, his eyes flashing wide with naked hurt, and Sam fought the urge to take it back. Instead, he brought Steve’s hand to his mouth and kissed the tips of his fingers.

“Not yet,” he clarified. “Steve, when I marry you — and I will marry you, because you are fooling yourself if you think I’m not gonna lock this down — it’s not going to be because of some stupid PR incident. When we get married, I want it to be for us, not for them. You’ve got nothing to prove, baby.”

“But— I do,” Steve objected, stubborn and loyal as ever, and Sam realized he must love Steve even more than he thought he did, because nobody should be allowed to pout that pretty.

“He does,” Bucky agreed. He was holding the tablet now, scrolling lazily, but he glanced up and gave Sam a rare genuine smile. “Chip on his shoulder the size of Alaska.”

“Thanks, Buck,” Steve said, rolling his eyes. “Glad to have you back.”

“Just keeping you humble.”

Steve huffed a little laugh, but he turned back to Sam seriously. “Are you sure? I see what you mean — we don’t have to tie the knot right now, but I could still say something. We could address this directly, correct those folks on the Internet who are wrong.”

“Sweetheart,” Sam laughed. “Somebody’s always gonna be wrong on the Internet, and no matter what you do, you’re not going to be able to convince all of them.”

“Yeah, remind me sometime to tell you about the Flat Earth Society,” Natasha murmured, not looking up from her phone.

Steve looked outraged and confused, but Sam just pulled him close and wrapped him up in his arms. After a second or two he stopped struggling and sighed against Sam’s chest.

“Ugh,” he muttered. “Internet. So helpful.”

* * *

Maria was right: #CapLovesBucky blew over in about 48 hours, and Steve didn’t mention it again. But a few weeks later, Sam woke up alone to find a piece of paper on his nightstand, propped up against the lamp. He sat up, reached for the paper, and unfolded it.

His breath caught in his throat.

It was a sketch, full of life and motion, of him in his wings, flying with Steve in his arms. Everything in the image pointed up; he and Steve were chest-to-chest, their heads tilted back, obvious wonder in their expressions. Sam’s wings were angled so sharply he could almost feel the wind rushing beneath him as they raced to the top of the page.

Sam followed the movement of the image to find what he and Steve were looking at, and there, in Steve’s spidery cursive, was a message Sam would never get tired of reading.

#CapLovesFalcon

**Author's Note:**

> If enough people bully me about it, I might write a sequel called #CapLovesFalcon, which would be wedding fic. 
> 
> Come chat with me on [Tumblr](http://mrsdawnaway.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
